From BBC
Published13 MaycommentsComments
England will get dozens of new monitored bathing sites, the government said on Monday, in the largest ever expansion of wild swimming areas.
Twenty-seven new locations, most of them on rivers, have been designated, which means summer pollution testing.
But the official designation of a bathing site doesn’t mean it is clean.
Most of the more than 400 existing swimming spots meet minimum standards but the two river sites currently on the list are both rated “Poor”.
The new bathing sites range from a beach in Dorset to Derwentwater in the Lake District and the River Nidd in North Yorkshire.
Alison Biddulph is a wild swimmer from Shropshire and has led the successful efforts to get three sites along the River Severn and the River Teme designated. She says the designations are “fantastic news” but has done some testing already and is expecting the Environment Agency to rate the sites as “Poor”.
“We definitely have issues in the rivers in Shropshire,” she said. “Not just sewage but also agriculture and particularly chicken farms. I’m hoping this will kick start some action locally to clean the waters.”
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“I am fully committed to seeing the quality of our coastal waters, rivers and lakes rise further for the benefit of the environment and everyone who uses them,” said Water Minister Robbie Moore.
